Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-18)

Two days later Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic, which became the Generalitat deCatalunya, recovering the name of this medieval government institution that had been abolished after the War of Succession (1705-1717) by Philip V. Francesc Macià is then elected president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

During these years, ERC is part of the Consell de la Democràcia Catalana (Council of Catalan Democracy) and the Consell de Forces Democràtiques (Council of Democratic Forces).

At the 16th National Conference (November 1989) a new leadership is elected, adopting the Independence of the Catalan Countries as a political aim.

Francesc Macià, the prestigious leader of EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya (ERC), a Republican left-wing party, won a clear victory in the elections held on 12 April 1931.

Negotiations between the two new powers, in Madrid and Barcelona, resulted on 17 April in the provisional reestablishment of the Generalitat deCatalunya as the government of Catalonia with Francesc Macià as its first President.

The Generalitat was composed of a Council or provisional Government, a provisional Assembly (forty-five deputies elected by the town councillors of all of the Catalan municipalities) and commissioners delegated by the Government who took over the services previously run by the Provincial Councils, which no longer existed in Catalonia.

The Popular Party demanded that the Socialists break off relations with "EsquerrarepublicanadeCatalunya", accusing them of violating the anti-terrorist pact which the country's two main parties committed themselves to in 2000, independent of their political differences, in order to unite in their efforts to fight against terrorism.

PP spokesperson in the Catalan Parliament, Francesco Vendrell, justified his party's absence by explaining that the Popular Party's position had been unequivocal for many years, and stating that on the other hand that of the EsquerrarepublicanadeCatalunya was far from being as clear.

Just a few days before the election opinion polls forecast a victory by the Popular Party but uncertainty remains as far as the majority, either absolute or relative, is concerned, to be enjoyed by the ruling party in Spain on 14th March in the evening.

The Generalitat deCatalunya (as well as the Generalitat Valenciana) has its origin in the Corts Reials Catalanes, an assembly which first began to meet during the reign of James I the Conqueror (1208-1276), convened by the king to represent the social estates of the time.

Precursors to the Corts Reials Catalanes can be found in the Cort Comtal (circa the year 1000) and in the assemblies of Pau i Treva (peace and truce) which met as of 1021 to deliberate over the signing of peace treaties or actions to be taken in response to acts of violence.

This circumstance led to the Corts appointing twelve deputies with financial powers and oïdors de comptes (auditors of accounts) who were to control the administration under the authority of Berenguer de Cruïlles, bishop of Girona (1359), considered to be the first President of the Generalitat.

In 1931 he became general secretary of EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya.

He also was deputy at the Spanish Courts this year, Government and Sanity councillor when Francesc Macia was President of the Generalitat deCatalunya as well as Public Services, Economy and Culture councillor during the Spanish Civil War.

Exiled to France since 1939, he became President of the Generalitat deCatalunya when Josep Irla resigned, in 1954.

A political storm erupted after military intelligence was leaked to the press that pro-independence Catalan nationalist Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, a senior member of the regional government, held secret meetings in France with leading members of the outlawed Basque separatist organisation ETA (Euskadi ta AskatasunaHomeland and Freedom).

Carod-Rovira was forced to resign as conseller de cap (de facto regional prime minister) when news of his meeting with Mikel Albizu and Mikel Antza was published in the pro-government right-wing paper ABC.

There was concern that a coalition with Esquerra would undermine the PSOEs critical support for the government, particularly on the question of the regions and on terrorism, while sections of the PSC were keen to assert their independence of the national party.

www.wsws.org /articles/2004/feb2004/cata-f16_prn.shtml (932 words)

Elections in Spain(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-18)

The Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies) has 350 members, elected for a four year term by proportional representation in each province.

EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia): Catalan pro-independence progressive centrist party

Lerroux, who had grown more conservative and tolerant since his days as an antimonarchist firebrand, capitalized on the left's failures to reach a compromise with the church and to deal with industrial unrest and with the extragovernmental power of the UGT and the CNT.

The PSOE had been increasingly "bolshevized," and it was difficult for a social democrat, such as Largo Caballero, to control his party, which drifted leftward.

The Left Republicans, the PSOE, the Republican Left of Catalonia (EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya), the communists, a number of smaller regional and left-wing parties, and the anarchists, who had boycotted previous elections as a matter of principle, joined to present a single leftist slate to the electorate.

The pro-independence EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya (ERC-Catalan Republican Left) saw its share of the vote rise to 16.47 percent, almost doubling the number of seats it holds from 12 in 1999 to 23.

ERC leader Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira warned the other parties not to take their support for granted, while a party spokesman said that everything was up in the air.

The ERC finally agreed on a coalition with the Partit Socialist deCatalunya (PSC-Catalan Socialist Party), the sister party of the social democratic Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE-Spanish Socialist Workers Party), and the Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verdas/Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (ICV-EUiA-Initiative for Catalonia-Greens/United and Alternative Left), a coalition of radicals, Greens and Stalinists.

Her knowledge covers several fields: cytologie, biology of reproduction, histopathology, and is author of a wide scientific bibliography on marine biology, environmental toxicology, parasitology, history of biology, etc.

In 2004 the Catalonian Government awarded her "St. George's Cross" (Creu de Sant Jordi), the highest medal of Catalonia.

Assistant Director of the Legal Department of the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat deCatalunya).

La Vanguardia (page 20 of yesterday’s edition) has news of the ERC (EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya) launching a €720,000 campaign that will use an image of the Catalan donkey (or ‘burro…

La Vanguardia (page 20 of yesterday’s edition) has news of the ERC (EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya) launching a €720,000 campaign that will use an image of the Catalan donkey (or ‘burro catalán’, an image used to represent the 'Catalan brand' on…

The first skirmishes within Spanish territory were provoked by the English and Dutch navy and took place along the coasts of Cadiz and Vigo.

In Catalonia, opposition to Philip V increased because of the continuous vexations on the part of the King and his Viceroy, Fernández de Velasco, who was also in conflict with the Generalitat because of its defence of the Constitutions of Catalonia.

This situation and the news of the battles undertaken by the Great Alliance led to an uprising in Catalonia in mid-1705.

EsquerraRepublicanadeCatalunya Euro-MP Bernat Joan told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that European Schools must fully and without exception represent all of the elements that form part of the heritage of Europe's citizens.

Euro-MPs meeting in Strasbourg were discussing the future of European Schools which were set up to provide an education for the children of European Union officials in their mother language.